Facing funding threats at both the state and federal levels, Fairfax County leaders have publicly maintained confidence in their policies banning voluntary cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
As President Donald Trump’s administration began ramping up ICE activities to support his campaign threats of mass deportations, however, the Fairfax County Police Department quietly revised its policy governing officer interactions with immigrants.
As of Feb. 21, the department’s General Order 604 no longer explicitly prohibits employees from assisting and sharing information with ICE, directing them instead to comply with the broader Trust Policy adopted by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2021.
Removing those guardrails could open the door for police officers to essentially serve as informants for federal immigration authorities, immigrant rights advocates say.
“They now allow individual officers to call up ICE and give them whatever information that they want … about an individual that they’ve had contact with,” one advocate told FFXnow. “It may be in the context of an arrest. It may be in the context of a stop, but the police, more than anybody else in the county, have access to the kind of personal information that ICE can use to locate someone and to deport them, and that’s a huge, huge concern.”
What changed?
General Order 604 has been on the books since May 6, 2020, setting guidelines for contacts between officers and non-U.S. citizens.
The policy emerged after then-Police Chief Ed Roessler suspended — and later reinstated — an officer who turned over a driver wanted by ICE for missing a deportation hearing. At the time, Roessler said the officer’s actions violated arrest procedures in place since 2007, instructing officers not to alert ICE or take someone into custody solely based on an administrative detainer.
Administrative warrants permit ICE to detain individuals for alleged civil immigration law violations, such as entering the country without approval or overstaying a visa, but they’re more limited in authority than criminal warrants, which are reviewed and signed by a federal judge.
Arguing that the fear of deportation deters undocumented immigrants from talking to the police and using other public services, immigrant rights groups like CASA and ACLU People Power Fairfax pushed for the expanded restrictions in General Order 604, the Fairfax County sheriff’s termination of a voluntary agreement with ICE in 2018 and the Trust Policy.
The original General Order 604 tells police officers not to “participate in, or facilitate, the enforcement” of federal immigration laws, including by asking for and disclosing a person’s address, phone number, release date or other personal information unless “necessary for criminal justice purposes.”
The directive also barred employees from giving federal immigration authorities access to FCPD facilities based on an administrative warrant, and required workers to fill out a form and get their superior’s approval to fulfill any ICE information requests.
The 2025 update stripped those provisions, stating only that FCPD employees are “obligated to follow the Fairfax County Trust Policy” and “have no legal authority to enforce” civil immigration laws.
While the Trust Policy’s prohibitions on facilitating and using county resources for civil immigration enforcement appear to extend to the FCPD, it states that decisions about sharing personal information “shall be made in accordance with agency specific directives and subject to supervisory approval.”
A section on law enforcement says FCPD internal regulations, specifically General Order 604, “control FCPD policy and procedure.”
However, the revised directive doesn’t specify what information is restricted, referring officers to the Trust Policy. Also, employees are now only “encouraged” to document ICE requests for information, ACLU People Power Fairfax notes.
“The purported instruction creates the very confusion the Trust Policy sought to avoid,” the grassroots civil rights organization said.
The Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights (VACIR), whose members include ACLU People Power Fairfax, said in a May 9 message to Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay that it’s “concerned” by the changes, calling for the changes to be put on hold until they can be “fully vetted.”
Protections still in place under Trust Policy, county says
When asked about the revisions, the FCPD stressed it “does not participate in immigration enforcement and does not engage with immigration agencies in the course of our routine operations.”
“The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) routinely reviews and updates all General Orders to ensure compliance with current laws and alignment with evolving best practices,” the department’s public affairs bureau said in a statement. “This ongoing process reflects our commitment to providing the highest standard of service to the community.”
In a statement to FFXnow and a June 9 letter responding to VACIR, McKay indicated that the general order revisions were necessary to “marry up” the directive with the Trust Policy.
“In February the Fairfax County Police Department directed its officers to follow the Fairfax County Trust Policy,” McKay said. “FCPD is not creating new policy or making changes to the existing Trust Policy. Any changes made by FCPD would not alter or impact the Trust Policy, as the department has been instructed to adhere to it.”
But the FCPD already updated General Order 604 in November 2023 with references to the Trust Policy, among other technical changes.
“The deletion of information sharing restrictions remains publicly unexplained,” ACLU People Power Fairfax said.
Immigrant advocates question need for revisions
Advocates also take issue with the FCPD not seeking community input before revising the general order, echoing a complaint that cropped up after the department released a new policy regulating foot pursuits.
In that case, the FCPD solicited feedback from a community working group, but it then implemented its initial draft policy without incorporating the group’s recommendations, according to the Fairfax County NAACP.
The first public discussion on the General Order 604 update appears to have occurred at an April 1 meeting of the One Fairfax Community Roundtable, which advises the Board of Supervisors on equity issues.
According to a summary of the meeting, McKay’s chief of staff at the time, Clayton Medford, said the general order was reviewed after the Board of Supervisors directed staff on Nov. 19 to analyze how the incoming Trump administration’s agenda might affect county policies.
“Mr. Medford shared that the goal was to ensure the Trust Policy and related policies could withstand aggressive legal scrutiny from the federal administration and external opposing groups,” the summary says. “The changes in the GO are not expected to change the way that the county does policing.”
In its message to McKay, VACIR said it appreciated Medford’s explanation but added that “it would have been preferable, however, to engage immigrant advocates, through the Roundtable or otherwise, in advance of finalizing the revision.”
The coalition questioned the legal necessity for the changes, particularly whether the prior limits on sharing information ran afoul of a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that bars restrictions on government entities or officials exchanging information about an individual’s immigration status.
From VACIR’s message:
We do not ask the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to violate applicable law. Even assuming Section 1373 is Constitutional, the law does not impose an affirmative mandate to share information with ICE. Section 1373 also does not prohibit Fairfax from restricting employees’ sharing of release dates, arrest information, or court resolution information. Finally, there is nothing in the statute which prohibits a locality from restricting employees’ authority to ask anyone or collect information about immigration status.
The code has been cited by the Trump administration in bids to withhold federal funds from jurisdictions that don’t voluntarily help ICE.
Fairfax County officials have maintained that their policies limiting contact with ICE comply with federal and state laws, though that didn’t stop the Trump administration from temporarily labeling the county a “sanctuary jurisdiction” on May 29.
ICE activity on the rise
While advocates say they’re not aware of instances of FCPD officers voluntarily assisting ICE following the policy change, they point to Arlington County as an example of what could happen without clear limits on interactions with ICE.
Adopted in 2022, Arlington’s Trust Policy barred county resources from being used for immigration enforcement and county employees, including police, from asking about a resident’s status. However, police could contact ICE in cases involving violent felonies, gangs, human trafficking, terrorism or a threat to “community safety,” or if they found “probable cause” for an arrest under Virginia state law.
Though Arlington tightened its policy last November, its police department reported a surge in officers contacting ICE in the first four months of 2025 compared to previous years. Under pressure from activists and in light of high-profile detentions of legal residents, the county removed all exceptions in May — drawing criticism from Virginia’s Republican leaders.
“We’ve seen what has happened in Arlington, yet we have in fact, made [General Order 604] weaker, which also puts more at risk the local community, where folks may no longer want to get certain resources, especially if they have any first response needs,” said John Cano, a senior organizer with the Legal Aid Justice Center.
The county’s protections for immigrants could soon face a major test: ICE reportedly plans to send tactical response units to Northern Virginia, New York City, Seattle, Chicago and Philadelphia, expanding raids in Los Angeles that sparked protests and deployments of California’s National Guard and Marine troops by Trump.
Earlier this year, ICE agents showed up at apartment complexes in Groveton and Annandale, the Embry Rucker Community Shelter in Reston and a 7-Eleven in Herndon where day laborers frequently gather.
According to Cano, Legal Aid Justice Center has seen increases in cases from people detained by ICE and in the agency’s overall presence. At its Chantilly field office and immigration courts in Annandale and Sterling, people have been picked up when attending scheduled hearings or appointments.
“That is concerning, to see that some folks are being detained despite having that process,” Cano said.
ICE acknowledged a request for comment from FFXnow but didn’t provide a response by press time.
Given the current policies of the Trump administration and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has pushed the state police and local jails to collaborate with ICE, Cano says it’s critical for “local politicians speak up” in support of immigrants.
“I would definitely would like to see a reconsideration of the general orders and [for Fairfax County to] invite folks from grassroots organizations that work directly alongside immigrant communities to have a direct say, and hear how these changes in policies are hurting the communities,” he said.
